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30 Crossword AnswersYou MUST Learn

Crossword answers that turn up frequently in crossword puzzles are called repeaters. Many repeaters are very common everyday words, like ERA and IDEA. Don't be fooled by appearances though. Knowing a word and finding it from an obscure clue are two very different things.

Other repeaters, like ANOA, are very obscure words that turn up frequently because their vowel-consonant patterns make them very crossword-friendly. These repeaters are called crosswordese, and I'm afraid you just have to learn them.

Here is a list of the most frequent repeaters appearing in a selection of major American newspaper crosswords. I've included a range of clues for each crossword answer to give you a feel for the variety of clues you are likely to meet when attempting a crossword puzzle.

I've organized the crossword answers in order of increasing word-length. The smaller words turn up much more frequently than the longer words, so you should learn these first. And remember, don't skip over the easy words! Check that you understand all their sneaky clues first. Would you have guessed the answer ARE to the clue [Cost]?

NOTE — If you're interested in two-letter words, the reason there are none here is that most major American newspaper crosswords do not allow words shorter than three letters in length.

Top Ten 3-Letter Crossword Answers

ALE

Relative of beer

It might help wash down a banger

Bass, for one

Old Foghorn, e.g.

Lead-in for house or wife

Schooner's contents, maybe

ALI

Muhammad ___

2001 role for Will Smith

Clay, now

Foreman's superior

Poetic pugilist

His won-lost record was 56-5

ARE

"___ we there yet?"

Exist

"You ___ There" (50's TV show)

Is for two

Cost

Be a different way?

ATE

Had a meal

Supped

Put away

Took the cake?

Had a little lamb

Came to a fast stop

ELI

Pharmaceutical giant ___ Lilly

Yale student

Harvadite's rival

Letter "Y" wearer

Bush or Taft

Descendant of Aaron, in the Bible

ONE

Last number in countdown

Digit in binary code

No longer divided

Wedded

Simple ticket order

Next to nothing?

ERA

History segment

Time worth remembering

Pitcher's stat.

Oft-nicknamed period

Diamond stat.

Time piece

ERE

Before, poetically

Bard's before

Poet's preposition

"___ Time transfigured me": Yeats

Before, before

It may appear before long

ETA

When the pilot is due in, for short

Greek H

Hellenic vowel

___ Pi (dessert lover's fraternity?)

Viscosity symbol, in physics

Touchdown info

ORE

Valuable rocks

Bauxite or magnetite

Something to slag

It's found in veins

Swedish coins

It might be found in a rush

Top Ten 4-Letter Crossword Answers

ALOE

____ vera

Healing balm

African lily

Yucca plant cousin

Cure for being caught red-handed?

ANTE

Card player's stake

Prefix with chamber

Vide ____ (see before, in Latin)

Buy in

Stud fee?

AREA

Nonsmoking ___

Neck of the woods

Bailiwick

It may have a code

Side by side?

ARIA

Song that's often in a foreign language

"Celeste Aida," e.g.

Operatic offering

Air on stage

Number for one

EDEN

Adam and Eve locale

Barbara who played a genie

Scene of a fall

Paradise lost

Perfect plot?

ELSE

Otherwise

G. & S.'s Lord High Everything ___

End of a warning

Choice word

It may follow something

ERIE

Toledo's lake

Niagara's source

War of 1812 siege site

Iroquois foe

Buffalo water

IDEA

"What's the big ___?"

Something to think about

It may be half-baked

What a germ may become

Coconut yield?

OLEO

Margarine

Muffin topper

Spread out on a table?

It's sold in bars

Promise output

OREO

Nabisco cookie

It may get a licking after dinner

Dunkable treat

Hydrox look-alike

Snack since 1912

Top Ten 5-Letter Crossword Answers

ALONE

Solo

"Home ___"

One way to go it

Like an eremite

ARENA

Play area

"In the ___" (Nixon book)

It often has a ring in the middle

Bowl

ATONE

Make amends

Do penance

Observe Yom Kippur

Square things

Do more than rue

EERIE

Spine-tingling

Appropriate for Halloween

Poe-ish

Like some coincidences

Like King's English

Causing horripilation

ENTER

Door sign

Stage direction

Key in

Butler's request

Cry from within

Long key

ERASE

Rub out

Remove one's slip

Blank tapes?

Prepare for reuse, perhaps

Get the lead out?

ERATO

Poet's muse

Lyre-playing muse

Sister of Clio

Calliope relative

IRATE

Furious

Seeing red

Choleric

Steamed

Close to erupting

IRENE

Ballroom dancer Castle

One of the Horae

Title woman in a Jim Carrey movie

Papas of "Zorba the Greek"

Castle with lots of steps

OPERA

Soap ___

Met offering

"La Traviata," e.g.

Verdi work

Horse ___

Works

Where to from here?

A better way to proceed, once you've mastered the words on this page, is to organize answers into theme-based lists. Under each answer in each list, provide a range of clues (from easy-literal through to difficult-cryptic) that appear for those answers in typical newspaper crosswords.

Here are some crossword theme lists I have put together to get you started...